The Maryland Museum of Women’s History does not yet have a physical location you can visit. When the first building the museum was slated to move into proved too costly to repair, the institution had to relocate. While renovations continue on the new building, the museum has announced that it will launch its first major exhibition digitally.
“From Enslavement to Emancipation: Voices Not Heard” will open as a virtual exhibit on January 15, 2021. The exhibit tells the story of enslaved people who lived on five plantations that surround Centreville, Maryland: Reed’s Creek, Peace & Plenty, Bloomfield, Poplar Grove, and Locust Hill. All five of these plantations were connected through family relations and all maintained slavery until Emancipation. The Maryland Museum of Women’s History is located on the former land of Locust Hill plantation.
“From Enslavement to Emancipation” will run online through February 28, 2021. The museum hopes to install a physical version of the exhibit this summer in a building used by the enslaved farm manager during the Civil War.
The Maryland Museum of Women’s History also plans to develop a second exhibit that tells the story of enslaved people after the new state constitution that included emancipation went into effect on November 1, 1864. “Emancipation to Jim Crow” is set to open in 2022.